[wendylou]

Coopers Hawk? by Wendy Gorner, on Flickr

Coopers Hawk? by Wendy Gorner, on Flickr

I thought this was a Coopers Hawk, but then I noticed the bands in his tail (second picture) were not as wide as a Coopers in my ID book. Can anyone confirm? thanks so much!

[Hawkman1234]

Red tail Hawk.

[wendylou]

Thank you, that is helpful. Is there anything besides the tail banding that tells you it's a red tail? I didn't realize how many shades there were of red-tail hawks. Would you say this is a first year light juvenile? It did seem to be saying pwee pwee when it was soaring.

[Hawkman1234]

I'm not a huge expert just seen enough of them to know.The 3 things I look for on most Redtails in southern BC are of course the red tail in adults so yours seems to be a juvenile and next what's called a belly band of dark feathers across belly with white above and in flight a leading dark edge along front of wings from head to about halfway along wing.

[wendylou]

Surprised my photos disappeared. Re-posted in case anyone was interested.

Hawk?? by Wendy Gorner, on Flickr

Hawk? by Wendy Gorner, on Flickr